Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus Group Plc (ISEQ: EIL1, LSE: AERL) (an anglicisation of the Irish Aer Loingeas meaning "air fleet") is an airline and the flag carrier of Ireland. It operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft serving Europe, North America, North Africa and Asia. It is Ireland's oldest extant airline, and its second largest, after low-cost rival Ryanair. The airline's head office is located on the grounds of Dublin Airport in Swords, Fingal, Ireland.

Formed in 1936, Aer Lingus is a former member of the Oneworld airline alliance, which it left on 31 March 2007. While it is not part of an alliance, the airline has codeshares with Oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam members, as well as interline agreements with Aer Arann, JetBlue Airways and United Airlines. The company employs 4,000 people and in 2011 had revenues of €1.3 billion. Aer Lingus flew 9.5 million passengers in 2011. It has a hybrid business model, operating a mixed fare service on its European and North African routes and full service, two-class flights on transatlantic routes.

Ryanair owns 29.4% Aer Lingus stock with an additional 25.4% in the hands of the Government of Ireland. The airline was floated on the Dublin and London Stock Exchanges on 2 October 2006, following prior government approval (the government previously owned 85% of the airline). The principal group companies include Aer Lingus Limited, Aer Lingus Beachey Limited, Aer Lingus (Ireland) Limited and Dirnan Insurance Company Limited, all of which are wholly owned.

Aer Lingus celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2011. On 26 March, the company presented its latest aircraft which has been painted in the 1960s livery and the crew was wearing a selection of the historical uniforms.